Boy, are we having a good time.

Friday we drove to Cottonwood. The expressed purpose of the trip was to visit some sink holes in the Sedona area that Don and Margie had recently become aware of. They had visited some of them. There are seven. Margie is acquainted with a professional geologist who agreed to give us a narrated guided tour. The exact locations of some of the holes is a closely guarded secret due to the archeological value of rock art found within. Only one of the seven is widely known and visited because it is on one of the popular jeep tour trails. The inside is accessible only with rappelling gear, so few people go to the bottom.
What the geologist told us, briefly, is that the red sandstone of the Sedona area is on top of a layer of limestone. The limestone is eroded by water coming down from the Flagstaff area through the basalt layer. When the limestone is gone, the sandstone caves in. The cave-in prevents access to the caverns, so nobody knows the extent of them. But they are active. Meaning they are still forming. In fact, the most recent rock fall was in the 1990's. That is so recent, that it doesn't even register on the geologic time scale.
If we had known of these sink holes as kids, we would most certainly, have found a way to get into them.
When we arrived back at Don's house, I heard air escaping from my rear tire. There was a screw in it. So we (Don and I) got to change a tire. But since it was on his driveway, it doesn't count as an "adventure".
On Saturday, Don and I went jeeping while Peggie, Karin, and Margie went to a presentation on the history of Verde Valley quilts. Naturally, we discovered many roads, and many places we haven't been to, so we will have to go back. We had lunch in Bagdad. Not much there. Only one diner, one convenience store, one dinner only restaurant, one Basha's. Really. No dollar store! No Walgreen's! No fast food joint.
When we go into the hinterlands, we measure success in three ways.
1. Beautiful views: yes
2. Wildlife sighting: yes (antelope, deer, coyote)
3. Wet tires: no There was water in some of the stream beds, but not at the road crossings.
Two out of three ain't bad.

Lake Patagonia

Lake Patagonia is on Sonoita Creek about 15 miles north of Mexico. The hills around it are grass covered with the occasional mesquite and ocotillo. It is a state park. The campsites are well spaced and there is water and electricity at most of them. Good bathrooms with showers are provided for free. Lake Patagonia is a fishing lake. That is, most of the campers and day visitors are there to fish.
We were there at the invitation of a former colleague of mine. She is a newly retired Kindergarten teacher. She and her partner, a high school counselor,  had the site next to us. Also in the group was another colleague retired from second grade, and her husband, retired from the mine at Ray. The fourth rig was another couple we had not met before. The husband is a retired pilot and the wife is a permanent substitute teacher. Also joining the group was another former colleague and our daughter, Casey.
During the day, we all did our own things. Reading, hiking, sitting by the lake, birdwatching, visiting.
Each evening we all gathered for dinner and a fire. Dinners were communal.
The weather could not have been better. Mild and sunny. The only bad thing was that one of the couples had a pair of Sea Eagle inflatable boats. So now we want one.

Why we live here.

We are going camping for the weekend.
Yes. We can go camping in January. Highs will be in the 70's. There will be no snow. Not even clouds. There will be no ice on the water.
We have selected our bathroom cabinets and the drawer pulls and cabinet handles. We have selected the tile for shower and floor. We have selected the counter top. That leaves only half a gazillion decisions still to make.
So we can take a break and go camping.

More changes

Just as we were breathing easy, the phone rang Monday. Our remodel contractor had two other jobs go on indeterminate delay, so could we start ours right away. Sure. We met on Tuesday to go over everything. So now, all those decisions that we had two months to ponder have to be made now. And there are a gazillion things. If you have ever done a construction or remodel, you know. If you haven't, there is no way to explain it.  Tomorrow we meet at the lighting store. Monday we meet with several subcontractors. But we are under way. Yay!

Another year gone by.

Okay, not quite. But 2014 (pronounced twenty fourteen) is looming large on the horizon.
Casey left yesterday after being with us from Christmas Eve. Peggie celebrated her birthday Saturday and we went to the movies. We were again able to skype with GajT while opening gifts on Christmas morning. I must again express my gratitude for the techie geniuses who developed skype in time for us to use it with our distant family.
Oh, my pneumonia is cleared up.
We recently saw "Saving Mr. Banks," which made us get "Mary Poppins," a movie neither Peggie nor I had ever seen from beginning to end. Over the years we have seen pieces of it, but never the entire thing. Strange, I know. We also saw "Walter Mitty." That was okay, but the result was that we want to go to Iceland.
We originally thought we would begin the upstairs remodel this coming week, but that is now scheduled for March. We are engaged in selecting tiles, cabinets, hardware, lighting, and paint. It is good to have a little more time for that.
Just a silly observation.... I realize that it has taken seven years for me to adjust my thinking from "school years," to "calendar years."
What the heck?  At the risk of giving ammunition to my sister and other smart-alecks, the use of "two thousand" in expressing any year beyond '09 rubs me like fingernails on chalkboard. I don't know why. It is really a non-important issue. I can trace it to Stanley Kubrik who made 'two thousand one a space odyssey' followed by 'twenty ten the odyssey continues' way before the rest of us thought about how to say the years of the twenty first century.

We actually had an adventure

Yesterday, Peggie and I went to Scottsdale for a follow-up on my pneumonia. It is not gone. So, I have new antibiotics and a new inhaler and instructions to get plenty of rest and drink plenty of liquids and come back in two weeks.
We took Casey's birthday presents and called to take her to dinner to celebrate. She had a date with a friend to screen a movie due out in January. He has a part-time job that involves getting audiences for events like that. So, while we were having dinner, he arranged for us to see the movie, as well. He did the whole thing wordlessly on his smart phone while we ate and talked. The name of the movie is "Lone Survivor" and stars Mark Wahlberg. All I can say is that it is a true story of a SEAL mission in Afghanistan. It is very bloody and intense. But, I recommend it to all for the heroism. Think "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan."

When is a cold not a cold?

When it is pneumonia.
The cold I came home from NY with morphed into pneumonia. We stopped at our Dr.'s office in Scottsdale on our way to Thanksgiving in Cottonwood last Wed. Peggie had the appointment, but I asked if they could check out my persistent cough while I was there.
Yep. They could. And I got a breathing treatment, X-ray, shot, anti-biotics and cough medicine. My sneak-in visit was longer than Peggie's scheduled one. I have to go back tomorrow to see how all of that worked.
Aside from the pneumonia, Bill, how was your holiday?
We had a good time. We stayed with (brother) Don and Karin at the house they bought in February. It has a wonderful view of the Sedona red rocks. They have a recliner sofa, so I could sleep in a semi-upright position. Better for the cough. We got to go jeeping twice. We chased around Sat. night trying to find somebody with coverage of the Territorial Cup (ASU v UA football) on TV. Nobody had it. The cable provider in the Verde Valley doesn't provide that channel. Casey was bummed. She has season tickets, and would have been at the game, live, if she wasn't in Cottonwood. At half time, Peggie was able to find a  live-stream. So we watched the Sun Devils absolutely cream the Wildcats. Good news is; if the Devils win one more game, they get to play in the Rose Bowl.
The train derailment in NY was on the line that Greg rides, but was not his train. Still, beginning yesterday, he has to find alternative ways to get to work until they get it cleaned up and repaired.